Monday’s with Mami – Puchero y Caldo

With fresh chickens in the deep freeze, I wanted to make a batch of chicken stock. In Spain my family makes an amazing meal in a pot called Puchero. Soup bones of beef with marrow, ham and chicken are added to enrich the soup and create a stock. After the meal is eaten, the stock is reserved and saved for other meals. Here in the states, my mother came up with our own form of puchero simply using chicken since beef bones and jamon serrano are not readily available. Though delicious in it’s own right, it will never compare to what my Abuela Rora makes in Sevilla. (Lord willing, when we visit next summer, I’ll be able to feature Monday’s with Abuela Rora!)

Puchero y Caldo

Ingredients

1 whole farm fresh chicken

feet from the chicken (optional)

1 cup garbanzo beans

1 gallon water

splash of vinegar

1 onion cut into 4 sections

3 carrots cut into thirds

3 celery sticks cut into thirds

3-4 potato’s cut up into small pieces

Soak Garbanzo beans overnight

Cut up the chicken, reserving the back bone

In a large stainless steel pot, add the cut up chicken, including the back bone and feet if you have them.

Bring your pot to a boil. Once boiling, skim off the scum that floats to the top of the pot.

Turn your heat to low and simmer for 8 hours up to 24 hours. The longer you simmer, the more flavor your stock will have.

20 minutes before serving, add the potato’s to the stock.

This recipe is for both the puchero and stock. If you are only wanting to make the puchero, you’ll only need half the amount of water and would only need to be slow cooked anywhere from 4-8 hours. If you are only wanting to make chicken stock, omit the garbanzo beans and potato’s

That’s really it! Once the puchero with stock is done, serve right away. I alway’s drizzle my puchero with olive oil and a splash of apple cider vinegar. So comforting!

Once the meal is eaten, drain the stock through a colander and reserve in pint size (2 cups) mason jars leaving an inch from the top and freeze. Now you have homemade chicken stock to use for future meals. SIMPLE!

Author

Diana Bauman

Diana is a mother of three, proud wife, and humbled daughter of God. She finds the most joy meeting with Jesus in her organic gardens where she’s able to witness his hand of creation. She is completely blessed to be able to call herself a stay at home mom where she home educates her children, joyfully serves her husband, and cooks simple, economical food to nourish her family. As a Latina and first generation American, she is prideful of her heritage and enjoys spending some of her summers abroad in Spain visiting her family. She loves connecting with people on facebook, google+, pinterest, and instagram.

I'm Diana – mother of three, proud wife, and daughter to an amazing God. Here you'll find an encouraging community of like minded mothers, fathers, and everyone in between seeking to nourish our families with good, simple food. You'll find us in our gardens, foraging, canning, preserving and enjoying a simple life.